C&RT council elections

[Lady M]

Interesting, thank you.  I thought we probably had not received anything as we only provide our postal address to CRT.  I am planning to give them a call this week as their website says the voting packs will be sent out by email or post this time.

[wandering snail]

1 hour ago, Sue68 said:

When I was involved with Nabo I wasn't allowed to vote because husband's name was on the license but not mine.

Mine does my dirty work for me 😁

[Sue68]

🙃

Nothings changed then !

[adam1uk]

On 01/01/2024 at 20:18, agg221 said:

Yep. Checked with a friend we stayed with over New Year (also a licence holder). He has received nothing either.

Alec

 

The emails come from Civica Election Services rather than CRT, so have you actually checked for the right thing?

[agg221]

2 hours ago, adam1uk said:

 

The emails come from Civica Election Services rather than CRT, so have you actually checked for the right thing?

That was the issue. Now found and voted. Thanks.

 

Alec

[Lady M]

So I called CRT about our missing vote code.  The person I spoke to didn't initially know anything about the Council elections.  So they checked and told me to email council@canalrivertrust.org.uk  This I have done and will revert if/when I receive a reply.

[MtB]

8 hours ago, agg221 said:

That was the issue. Now found and voted. Thanks.

 

Alec

 

How did you know who to vote for?

 

Having read quite a few of the statements I want to vote for all of them! 

 

 

 

[Ian Mac]

14 hours ago, MtB said:

How did you know who to vote for?

 

Having read quite a few of the statements I want to vote for all of them!

A quick précis - the voting system which C&RT have chosen to use is a single transferable vote system, this is similar to the voting systems used in Northern Island and now Scotland, soon to be introduced into Wales.  It is deemed to give fairer representation, although as with all systems there are perceived problems. see wikkipeadia as a starter for 10 if your really interest -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote
Most people in England have not come across this system.
Basically you rank your candidates in order for first to last. For the boater vote it would be wise to select at least 4 people, as there are 4 seats, but you do not have to. If you do not want someone, you either have to put them at the very bottom of the list ie in 24th place, that also means you have to select the other 23! in a meaningful order,  or just not select them.

 

Please do not Donkey Vote - this means you list the candidates in the order they appear on the ballot paper. At least read what each candidate has written to make some sort of choice. Maybe those wearing a hat or with long hair or a disability, or etc, etc.  Do the candidates the honour of doing a little research.
As an aside council has already co-opted  Tracey Clarke onto council, as a severely visually impaired boater, who is working hard to change hearts and minds within the trust so that disabled boating becomes easier.

 

My number 1 will be Tim Allen who has in my opinion has being doing a good job for the last 4 years, representing all boater interests. I will then have Eric McDowall as my second candidate, as the HNBC candidate of choice.  I'm undecided currently after that, which is one reason why I started this thread. But I've a week to make my mind up.

 

PS if voting for volunteering please put me Ian McCarthy first - thanks.

 

--

cheers IAn MAc

[jonathanA]

thanks Ian,

 

thats really helpful. 

 

Are there any other candidates that are also forumites ?   As i don't know any of them personally i'd be interested in any that have been seen to do a good job or are known to be good representatives of boaters, not supporting 'minority' interests (i'd see any IWA,NBTA or HNBC candidates as minority)

 

off to read all the statements now - oh what joy (and for the business candidates as I get to vote there as well..) 

 

 

[agg221]

Reading them all was a fairly lengthy exercise.

 

I can only vote in the boaters category. Given that there is also a business category, I deprioritised a number of the candidates whose statement focused more on the business side (several roving traders and others whose primary interest appeared to be commercial rather than as a boater).

 

There were several others who appeared to be rather militant/activist and personally I don't feel that the current issues are going to be solved by a shouting crusader.

 

One of the statements was so bland it could have been written by AI.

 

Several people appeared genuine but naïve so they appeared on my list but ranked lower down.

 

I prioritised people with a relevant background who I felt could constructively challenge CRT's approach, particularly over operational efficiency and prioritisation of spending. There were coincidentally four people who fell in that category, who made it to the top of my list in no particular order.

 

I'm not sure how useful the exercise will be, but my professional experience is that bodies run by a council such as this may drift for a while, but then they suddenly find that the council has teeth when they overstep the mark too far. I hope that doesn't happen with CRT, but I do feel a council which is well placed to ask questions is more useful than one which is not.

 

Alec

[Ian Mac]

The three retiring boaters reps Helen Hutt, Phil Prettyman and Dave Mendes da Costa all worked hard for the boating community in my opinion.  Tim Allen also worked hard and as I have said, I rate him number 1 on my list.
I was pleasantly surprised by Dave Mendes da Costa, who really held out for the continuos cruising community in a very constructive way. I really enjoyed working with Phil Prettyman in attempting to keep heritage at the forefront of what the trust does and thinks. Helen Hutt was also very constructive. All the elected reps (except the employee one) met with the C&RT Senior management every quarter to discuss matters arising. Our last meeting will be at the end of this month.

[Cheshire cat]

I recieved a reminder to vote from Civica today

[Alway Swilby]

Which are the NBTA candidates? If I know that I can miss them off the list.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

16 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:

Which are the NBTA candidates? If I know that I can miss them off the list.

  you might be glad Dave Mendes da Costa from the NBTA is giving up his post then?

above ^^ Ian Mac speaks positive about him so it may well be a loss for continuous cruisers,

[David Mack]

Just a reminder to folks that the CRT Council Elections close at midday tomorrow (Wednesday 10 January).

So you have just over 12 hours left to get your votes in!

[Cheshire cat]

I see the baton twirler was voted in.

[Alan de Enfield]

New members elected to Council

As mentioned above, we’re pleased to welcome new members to our Council. Each elected candidate will take up their voluntary post for four years from 1 March 2024, when the term of existing elected Council members comes to an end.

The elected Council representatives are as follows:

Private boating

• Penelope Barber
• Fiona Burt
• Rosie Strickland
• Scott Martin

Business boating

• Paul Donnelly
• Lucy Waldron

Trust volunteers

• Nigel Branston
• Trevor Clark

Friends of the Trust

• Brian Williams

Trust employees

• Aaron Atwal

The new members include David Kent, who was elected unopposed in the Fisheries & Angling constituency.

[Tonka]

16 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

I see the baton twirler was voted in.

We're doomed

[ditchcrawler]

10 minutes ago, Tonka said:

We're doomed

That was almost a certain bet I would have said, I expect they all supported their candidate where the rest of us probably spread our vote. The numbers would be interesting 

[agg221]

25 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

That was almost a certain bet I would have said, I expect they all supported their candidate where the rest of us probably spread our vote. The numbers would be interesting 

It may be that, but I did note that three of the four candidates who were voted in appear to be Continuous Cruisers, with one of them who does not declare an NBTA affiliation also standing on what seems to be a similar platform. The third is also a Roving Trader and I was not entirely comfortable that someone with a canal boat business interest can stand in the Private Boater category.

 

I think I am right in saying that in the Private Boater and Volunteer categories, those who stood for re-election were not successful. I am not quite sure what to read into that, but I suspect it represents either lack of visibility or a desire for a change due to general dissatisfaction with the status quo, rather than being a personal comment.

 

Liveaboard/CC represents, as I understand it, around 15% of all boat owners (5,000 out of 35,000) so achieving 75% representation is somewhat disproportionate, however I suspect it is more about who is more active and feels more hard done by following recent licence changes. The complacent majority may have simply not voted. It will be interesting if a consequence is rowing back on the CC licence increases - that may make the majority sit up and realise why they should vote in future elections. The risk of course is that it results in the council becoming a battleground between groups of boaters, rather than fulfilling its primary purpose of (constructively) holding CRT to account.

 

Alec

Edited January 13 by agg221

[Ian Mac]

1 hour ago, agg221 said:

rather than fulfilling its primary purpose of (constructively) holding CRT to account.

 

Alec

The primary function of Council is to appoint trustees, they are effectively the shareholders of the company which is the trust, they have £1 shares limited by guarantee. The Council have the power to appoint trustees and fire them all, they can not fire individuals. They also act as a sounding board for the trustees and the executive, however they can not control them. Their powers are very soft.
So some of the manifestos were Boris lies, they can not change that which they claim they want to.
 

The elected reps now also have bimonthly informal meetings with the execute, where problems are reported, and feedback is received.
That said I have presented several papers to council whilst I have been a member, the last one was a joint paper with Phil Prettyman on the management of heritage, in the widest sense, particularly looking at the fact that detail knowledge is walking out of the door, due to the older staff leaving and the younger staff not staying with the trust. We volunteers have more corporate knowledge sometimes that the trust and this is currently a problem, as this pool of knowledge is not always being used.

--

cheers Ian Mac

[agg221]

2 minutes ago, Ian Mac said:

The primary function of Council is to appoint trustees, they are effectively the shareholders of the company which is the trust, they have £1 shares limited by guarantee. The Council have the power to appoint trustees and fire them all, they can not fire individuals. They also act as a sounding board for the trustees and the executive, however they can not control them. Their powers are very soft.
So some of the manifestos were Boris lies, they can not change that which they claim they want to.
 

The elected reps now also have bimonthly informal meetings with the execute, where problems are reported, and feedback is received.
That said I have presented several papers to council whilst I have been a member, the last one was a joint paper with Phil Prettyman on the management of heritage, in the widest sense, particularly looking at the fact that detail knowledge is walking out of the door, due to the older staff leaving and the younger staff not staying with the trust. We volunteers have more corporate knowledge sometimes that the trust and this is currently a problem, as this pool of knowledge is not always being used.

--

cheers Ian Mac

Thanks Ian, a useful explanation from the inside.

 

It is pretty much as I expected (although I was not aware that the trustees can only be fired en masse rather than individually).

 

My employer has a relatively similar structure, except that the council members are themselves the legal directors of the company, rather than appointing trustees to the role. In our case, this is a very longstanding structure (dating from 1946) so it has been through more sets of circumstances than CRT has yet experienced. For obvious reasons I won't go into any specific issues. My employer has not received state funding since the 1980s, having been forced through a similar transition to that which CRT is supposed to achieve so it would not be appropriate or necessarily pertinent to air any dirty laundry (although looking at how the transition away from state funding was achieved may be insightful). What I will say though is that when you have a fundamentally well-intentioned executive the very soft power of the council to influence it can be highly effective, as it wants to listen. This is where I personally feel CRT currently is, which is why I anticipate that the personal interests of the elected members of Council will matter - they will be granted the privilege of using it as a platform (as you and Phil Prettyman did). However it becomes essential that Council is coherent, observant and aware of its role in circumstances where the purpose of the executive is at odds with the articles of incorporation of the Trust. It is early awareness which enables nudging through soft power which stops these circumstances arising, or steers things back on track before damage is done. If the Council is either unaware of its purpose in this regard, or the individuals are too wrapped up in their own agendas to act coherently, this is where major damage could be done.

 

Alec

[Sue68]

Hooray Penny Barber made it. She has a good pedigree, is intelligent, tenacious and very knowledgeable .

[Allan(nb Albert)]

6 hours ago, agg221 said:

Thanks Ian, a useful explanation from the inside.

 

It is pretty much as I expected (although I was not aware that the trustees can only be fired en masse rather than individually).

 

 

It is not true that CRT trustees can not be fired by Council.

 

A provision (24.9) in the Articles of Association mirrors a provision in the Companies Act 2006 (168 and 169) which allows shareholders (i.e. members of council) to remove trustees from office by resolution  at a General Meeting.